Friday, April 27, 2012

Preparing for confinement

Today is my last proper prep day before Jury Duty and - GAH - I have given it away. But I think it's all right. I have a few ideas for how to spend between 4 and 10 days in a big room with nothing to do (if I don't get picked to serve on an actual jury, that is.)

1/ design some hats on paper. Yesterday I charted up some stitches I like and I am pretty sure it will take hours to work out some subtle crown decreases that reduce the patterns organically.

2/ study for a new job I am thinking of taking on. The job would take up maybe 4 or 6 hours a week, but it is pretty skilled and would require me to pass a pair of tests. When else am I going to have this kind of study time, aka the kind where I couldn't be making something instead?

3/ read a lot of books. I spent some more time toying with the idea of e-readers and came close to buying a Kindle (first choice, but the only local chain store that sells them has been out of stock for ages) and then back to a Kobo (very much second choice, especially after discovering that the library's supply of free e-books is both limited and avidly used) and then realized that most of the books I would want to read - new fiction - aren't consistently available for e-reader anyway and the ones that are cost almost as much as the actual book. I think I will just read actual books and consider it a workout, carting them around.

(compelling aspect of e-readers that might overcome all these objections - Principles of Knitting on e-reader? It would take forever to look through the illustrations and you couldn't easily compare one vs. another step in a stitch because the screen is too small, but, but consider the thrill of a weightless Principles of Knitting!)

If you have any other ideas that don't involve sharp objects, because those aren't allowed in the courthouse, do let me know. And in the meantime, have a fantastic weekend!

ps next week I'll be posting at the end of the day rather than the beginning, in case you're looking for me.